Chu Mi-ae Says PPP Ethics Chief Served as Special Adviser to NIS Under Yoon Administration, Calls for Probe into His Role

Shin Dongwook: "As a private citizen, one can serve as an adviser to ministries related to cybercrime"

Chu Mi-ae, Chair of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party of Korea), on the 23rd called on the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to determine the role played by Yoon Minwoo, Ethics Committee Chair of the People Power Party and a professor at Gachon University, noting his past record of having served as special adviser to the NIS director during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Yonhap News Agency

At a full session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee that day, during the review of the National Intelligence Service Staff Act, Chair Chu said, "Chair Yoon is an expert in psychological warfare and cognitive warfare," adding, "Under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, he served as an adviser to the Defense Counterintelligence Command and was appointed special adviser to the NIS director." She continued, "It is understood that, as a civilian expert, this person played some kind of role in psychological warfare and cognitive warfare," and requested of the NIS, "Please identify on whose recommendation and by what process he was appointed special adviser to the NIS director under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, and what specific duties and roles he actually carried out within the NIS in relation to psychological and cognitive warfare."

In response to this request, Shin Dongwook, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, said, "Chair Yoon not only served as an adviser to the NIS director, but also as an adviser to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family," adding, "As a private citizen, one can serve as an adviser to government ministries related to cybercrime." After questioning the NIS planning and coordination director about the results of an internal NIS audit, Representative Shin criticized, saying, "What on earth justifies turning this into an issue simply because he is serving as ethics committee chair of another party?"